USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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pbrocks15 said:
Is spending 8 hours doing and reviewing 2 UWorld blocks too long? I feel like its taking me awhile and putting me behind on my FA/pathoma readings. What do you guys think?
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I think spending 8 hours to review 2 UW blocks is quite good! In fact, if anything, it probably means you are doing a good job reviewing the answers and I felt that was far more high yield than FA - my FA knowledge was quite "weak" in some areas (probably 10% of the book I literally never even read) and it did not hurt me on either the NBMEs or the actual test (or at very least - it was offset by knowing the UW concepts well). In the aftermath of the test, I definitely think that UW time should not be sacrificed for FA time.
 
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The.Supinator said:
For a lot of my friends who just took step UWSA1 overpredicted by up to 19 points, their nbmes where much more accurate, btw what percentage was that 279? and what percentile does that say? trust the percentile in UWSA as in your rank among others not just the 3 digit score. because some people get a 230 and that's a 22nd percentile in UWSA1
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UWSA1 was 93% correct, 99'th percentile
UWSA2 was 95% correct and also 99'th percentile

Yeah I wouldn't be suprised if UWSA1 overpredicts by even more than 20 points, but I was suprised by my UWSA2 which apparently is the best predictor.
 
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mikil100 said:
UWSA1 was 93% correct, 99'th percentile
UWSA2 was 95% correct and also 99'th percentile

Yeah I wouldn't be suprised if UWSA1 overpredicts by even more than 20 points, but I was suprised by my UWSA2 which apparently is the best predictor.
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That's pretty incredible. I feel like I've been prepping for the Step 1 since the beginning of 2nd year and despite being in the top 5% of my class for board prep, I can't even get close to numbers like that. For every 10 new things that I learn, it seems like 2 other things fall out the back end so it's always this game of trying to hold all of the knowledge in. There are so many subjects/disciplines on the Step 1 and the only ones I could even say I'm in the >90%tile in are Anatomy and Pharmacology because that's what my graduate degree was focused in and what I've been teaching for the last 3 years, so it amazes me that there are people that have such a wide breadth of knowledge. Kudos to you man.
 
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mikil100 said:
UWSA1 was 93% correct, 99'th percentile
UWSA2 was 95% correct and also 99'th percentile

Yeah I wouldn't be suprised if UWSA1 overpredicts by even more than 20 points, but I was suprised by my UWSA2 which apparently is the best predictor.
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Bro your a beast! good job, I thought it was going to be like high 80s or something, that percentile too, just take step asap.
 
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Nephronlearner said:
I think spending 8 hours to review 2 UW blocks is quite good! In fact, if anything, it probably means you are doing a good job reviewing the answers and I felt that was far more high yield than FA - my FA knowledge was quite "weak" in some areas (probably 10% of the book I literally never even read) and it did not hurt me on either the NBMEs or the actual test (or at very least - it was offset by knowing the UW concepts well). In the aftermath of the test, I definitely think that UW time should not be sacrificed for FA time.
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Thanks! That's good to hear! I think I just really read every answer choice slowly and make sure I understand it. I also make some Anki but not many any more. This is my second pass through UWorld now so I've made most anki for the things I was struggling with in UWorld.
 
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Hey guys! As I'm going through first aid, I'm realizing there is certain parts that are literally just giant lists of non-intuitive things we have to know (HLA subtypes, etc.). I'm realizing that these are probably things that should be brutely memorized closer to my exam (in 4.5 weeks) as opposed to right now. What do you guys think I should add to this list of "random memorization stuff". Right now I have:
HLA subtypes
Auto-antibodies
Signaling pathways of endocrine hormones
 
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Ok so I sent everyone the files that I've got, which were for form 1, 3, and 4. However the rest of the files are locked up in the file above, which I cant seem to open for the life of me. If someone could figure out how to open the file Ill just post the PDF on here.

It's something called a .one file.

Think of it like the really nerdy STEP 1 version of Excalibur...
 
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I think I've plateaued. I took 3 nbme's in the past month, and I only improved by 1 less question incorrect each time I took a new one. I'm still going through a full pass of pathoma pretty slowly and keeping my sketchy pharm/micro knowledge fresh in my head at this point. But until this week I was only doing 40 questions in uworld a day, 15-20 kaplan/rx q's in my weak areas, and reviewing my notes from uworld questions which incorporate first aid figures with some additional uworld info. Do you guys think my time is better spent just doing uworld questions at this point? I have 40 unused uworld questions left and I figured since I already took some decent notes during my first run with a couple passes through them that already that I could fly through a second pass without taking any notes this time. I'm a little less than 3 weeks out from test day now
 
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coldcase331 said:
Hey guys! As I'm going through first aid, I'm realizing there is certain parts that are literally just giant lists of non-intuitive things we have to know (HLA subtypes, etc.). I'm realizing that these are probably things that should be brutely memorized closer to my exam (in 4.5 weeks) as opposed to right now. What do you guys think I should add to this list of "random memorization stuff". Right now I have:
HLA subtypes
Auto-antibodies
Signaling pathways of endocrine hormones
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I tend to group antidotes (pg 239 of FA 2017, not sure what page in 2018) with those things as well.

Edit: oh and also what chromosomes specific diseases are associated with.
 
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So, just did UWSA 2 today. I went from a 251 on UWSA 1 to a 232 on UWSA 2. I'm completely bummed out now 🙁. Got a 77, 75, 70, 60. "General principles" and biochem are going to be the things that completely screw me over on the real deal. Sigh, here's hoping my NBMEs go better, but I feel like I might not even hit 240s, much less 250s.
 
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FenderBenderEmergency said:
So, just did UWSA 2 today. I went from a 251 on UWSA 1 to a 232 on UWSA 2. I'm completely bummed out now 🙁. Got a 77, 75, 70, 60. "General principles" and biochem are going to be the things that completely screw me over on the real deal. Sigh, here's hoping my NBMEs go better, but I feel like I might not even hit 240s, much less 250s.
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If you have Rx, I found the Rx videos to be extremely helpful for biochem.
 
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Dermpire said:
I bet we had the same question. I also missed a brand new question yesterday with 100%. Please tell me it was the absurd calcification in the lung and spleen question?
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Yes! I even googled it and basically what I read is that extra-pulmonary involvement is really only seen in immunocompromised individuals, and there was nothing in the question stem to suggest that.

I thought maybe it was getting at metastatic calcification due to a parathyroid adenoma.
 
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Lannister said:
Yes! I even googled it and basically what I read is that extra-pulmonary involvement is really only seen in immunocompromised individuals, and there was nothing in the question stem to suggest that.

I thought maybe it was getting at metastatic calcification due to a parathyroid adenoma.
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That's exactly what I put as well, especially since they talked about him having a kidney stone. Terrible question IMO, glad I wasn't alone on that one.
 
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Dermpire said:
That's exactly what I put as well, especially since they talked about him having a kidney stone. Terrible question IMO, glad I wasn't alone on that one.
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And they never even addressed the kidney stone in the explanation despite that being his chief complaint! Haha hopefully they get rid of it.
 
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The Knife & Gun Club said:


Ok so I sent everyone the files that I've got, which were for form 1, 3, and 4. However the rest of the files are locked up in the file above, which I cant seem to open for the life of me. If someone could figure out how to open the file Ill just post the PDF on here.

It's something called a .one file.

Think of it like the really nerdy STEP 1 version of Excalibur...
Click to expand...


Can you send Form 1, 3, and 4 please?
 
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How much time do you all spend reading FA/Pathoma in total each day?

Edit -
I'm getting really frustrated because I'm not able to honestly purely recall all of these small facts. I can perform moderately well when it comes to questions I feel like but if you asked me to just riddle on about some topic off the top of my head, I struggle with it but I'm very much able to work through a question. Any thoughts on this?
 
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pbrocks15 said:
How much time do you all spend reading FA/Pathoma in total each day?

Edit -
I'm getting really frustrated because I'm not able to honestly purely recall all of these small facts. I can perform moderately well when it comes to questions I feel like but if you asked me to just riddle on about some topic off the top of my head, I struggle with it but I'm very much able to work through a question. Any thoughts on this?
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I feel the same way about being able to answer multiple choice questions, but I don't feel like I could sit here and explain everything about restrictive lung disease and how it works. Makes me a little nervous for third and fourth year.
 
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Lannister said:
I feel the same way about being able to answer multiple choice questions, but I don't feel like I could sit here and explain everything about restrictive lung disease and how it works. Makes me a little nervous for third and fourth year.
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ME TOO! I'm about a 5ish weeks from my test so I'm going to take my first test Friday and see how it goes. That I think might tell me what direction to go.
 
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I have plateaued at 12 questions wrong for the last few NBME's I've taken (offline). At this point, I think the main thing holding me back is test-taking skills. For example, the breakdown of my most recent form (NBME 12) was pretty frustrating:

-7 where I truly got stumped/tricked (I'm OK with getting these wrong)
-2 recall errors
-2 where I simply misread very easy questions
-1 where I egregiously overthought a very easy question

These recall, misreading, and overthinking errors are inexcusable in my opinion. This is what separates good scores from outstanding scores. The best test-takers might not know everything, but they never miss easy points on what they DO know.

Anyone have any advice for overcoming this issue / improving my test-taking skills in general?
 
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Dermpire said:
I bet we had the same question. I also missed a brand new question yesterday with 100%. Please tell me it was the absurd calcification in the lung and spleen question?
Click to expand...

Lannister said:
Yes! I even googled it and basically what I read is that extra-pulmonary involvement is really only seen in immunocompromised individuals, and there was nothing in the question stem to suggest that.

I thought maybe it was getting at metastatic calcification due to a parathyroid adenoma.
Click to expand...
I missed this question too. I also put adenoma. And the people I talked to at school today all missed it too. If they want fungal infection they need to say immunocompromised or something
 
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Dr. Death said:
I missed this question too. I also put adenoma. And the people I talked to at school today all missed it too. If they want fungal infection they need to say immunocompromised or something
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I think maybe they were hoping that the fact that he was from Ohio would tip people off to histo.
 
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Also, I think I got a question that 100% of people got right. It was a pretty easy one about a person with Barrett's esophagus and what other scenario is an example of metaplasia (squamous metaplasia in the lungs of smokers). But I find it hard to believe that at least a few people wouldn't get that wrong..
 
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sharkbyte said:
Dedicated is weird, man. I've never had any stretch previously in my life where every day was exactly the same as the day that came before it. 😱
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Oh I’ve had those before, but what I will say is that I’ve never had consecutive days where I’m constantly “on” from sunrise to past sunset.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
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sharkbyte said:
Also, I think I got a question that 100% of people got right. It was a pretty easy one about a person with Barrett's esophagus and what other scenario is an example of metaplasia (squamous metaplasia in the lungs of smokers). But I find it hard to believe that at least a few people wouldn't get that wrong..
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I also got this question. There was another 100% question though that I did also get wrong but it wasn't this one. Might be the other one you guys are talking about.
 
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pbrocks15 said:
I also got this question. There was another 100% question though that I did also get wrong but it wasn't this one. Might be the other one you guys are talking about.
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Also I totally forgot to answer your question from the other day. I did not end up reviewing NBME 13 (I got lazy after the test...I probably should have, so I might do it a bit later) but for NBME 15 I kind of just made some flash cards of stuff I got wrong. I doubt it's very helpful because there aren't official answer explanations so I tried to pull together scraps from whatever I was able to get from the SDN threads about it. I'm probably going to do a much more detailed review of the UW self-assessments.
 
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sharkbyte said:
Also I totally forgot to answer your question from the other day. I did not end up reviewing NBME 13 (I got lazy after the test...I probably should have, so I might do it a bit later) but for NBME 15 I kind of just made some flash cards of stuff I got wrong. I doubt it's very helpful because there aren't official answer explanations so I tried to pull together scraps from whatever I was able to get from the SDN threads about it. I'm probably going to do a much more detailed review of the UW self-assessments.
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Thanks! I think I'm going to take 15 on Friday and I might use NBME 13 as a bit of a Q bank sort of thing for some extra questions here and there. Or I could actually take maybe 16...hm, nah I think 15 might be better since I still have 5 weeks.
 
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Foot Fetish said:
I have plateaued at 12 questions wrong for the last few NBME's I've taken (offline). At this point, I think the main thing holding me back is test-taking skills. For example, the breakdown of my most recent form (NBME 12) was pretty frustrating:

-7 where I truly got stumped/tricked (I'm OK with getting these wrong)
-2 recall errors
-2 where I simply misread very easy questions
-1 where I egregiously overthought a very easy question

These recall, misreading, and overthinking errors are inexcusable in my opinion. This is what separates good scores from outstanding scores. The best test-takers might not know everything, but they never miss easy points on what they DO know.

Anyone have any advice for overcoming this issue / improving my test-taking skills in general?
Click to expand...

Similar breakdown for me as well. I'm switching my strategy a bit on the next NBME I take. I've found that NBME is much less likely to be asking a trick question ( as UW tends to do...imo). Usually if you have a decent rational for chosing an answer choice it probably is that.

I miss 2-3 questions every test because of that. I always seem to miss 1 question that I know I shouldn't have missed (miss reading, etc).. not sure how to correct that other than go slower, but then again time is limited.

The recall errors will hopefully just be fixed with more studying.

Then there is the wildcard questions and no amount of preparing can prepare you for that; however I will say identifying questions that seem to be wildcards but are actually testing a simple underlying concept is really important. There's been quite a few times that I've sat on one questions completely stumped until it "clicks" with what they're actually asking (which can be the hardest part of the question). Sometimes it's rediculously easy but masked behind a charade of word vomit and confusing graphs. I actually think improving in this area has increased my scores by about 10-15 points easily.
 
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throwaway9999999999 said:
Did anyone here move their exam up and later regret? I feel really burnt out (like to the point where my body freezes and stops working in like 5-6 hrs after studying) and I’m 2 weeks out and with like 15% of my UW second pass left. I’ve been scoring >265 in NBME 17,19,16 and both UWSA. Please reply if you have any thoughts I’ll be really helpful
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Dude....if you're scoring above 265 on your NBME's (including the dreaded 19...), you're good to go. Unless there's a part of you that wants to get into the 280's just for fun. Maybe move up the test a week, and just spend the week doing that last 15% a few hours a day, then relax and get your mind in the right place.
 
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For those that are happy with their NBME scores.. what is your approach to NBME questions vs uworld. Is it a bit odd to score better on uworld blocks and not have that translate to NBMEs?

For instance per 50 block of NBME I get about 10 wrong and I am trying to minimize that but don't know quit how.
 
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sharkbyte said:
Dedicated is weird, man. I've never had any stretch previously in my life where every day was exactly the same as the day that came before it. 😱
Click to expand...

And it sucks but it will NOT last forever - power through it. I barely remember half of those days and it was less than a month ago haha
 
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Got my score today: 234

Was really hoping for a 240+, but looking at my practice tests I knew that would be a stretch. I landed just around my average of all my practice tests (if you exclude UWSA 1). Overall, I'm a little disappointed in myself, but not too down.

Here's a repost of my scores for reference:
CBSE 5 weeks out: 195
NBME 15 (4 weeks out): 225
NBME 16 (3 weeks out): 215 (freaked out and started studying like crazy)
NBME 17 (2 weeks out): 230
NBME 19 (13 days out): 223
UWSA 1 (taken back to back with 19): 251
NBME 18 (7 days out): 240
UWSA 2 (6 days out): 245
Free 120 (4 days out): 84%

Uworld (mostly random and timed): 73%
 
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Yellow_Elephant said:
Finally can contribute to this thread that I've been following throughout my study period!

NBME 16: 240
NBME 17: 248
NBME 18: 250
NBME 19: 242
UWSA 1: 264
UWSA 2: 256

Real deal: 256!
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Congrats on the score! Can you add your UW first pass % and how far out your test date was from your practice exams
 
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Dr. Death said:
Congrats on the score! Can you add your UW first pass % and how far out your test date was from your practice exams
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Yeah for sure

NBME 16: 240 (5 weeks out)
NBME 17: 248 (4 weeks out)
NBME 18: 250 (2 weeks out)
NBME 19: 242 (3 weeks out)
UWSA 1: 264 (6 weeks out)
UWSA 2: 256 (1 week out)

UW first pass random timed: 82%
 
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Got my score today: 241

Very happy with it considering my NBMEs!

NBME 18: 207 (5 weeks out)
NBME 16: 215 (3 weeks out)
NBME 17: 230 (1.5 weeks out)

UWorld average 70%

I relied heavily on Sketchy (Micro, Pharm, and Path <- was surprised by how helpful SketchyPath turned out to be) and FA during dedicated. I didn't use Pathoma at all during dedicated, but knew it well as I had used it to prepare for my school's 2nd year courses.
 
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LunaMeriatchi said:
Got my score today: 234

Was really hoping for a 240+, but looking at my practice tests I knew that would be a stretch. I landed just around my average of all my practice tests (if you exclude UWSA 1). Overall, I'm a little disappointed in myself, but not too down.

Here's a repost of my scores for reference:
CBSE 5 weeks out: 195
NBME 15 (4 weeks out): 225
NBME 16 (3 weeks out): 215 (freaked out and started studying like crazy)
NBME 17 (2 weeks out): 230
NBME 19 (13 days out): 223
UWSA 1 (taken back to back with 19): 251
NBME 18 (7 days out): 240
UWSA 2 (6 days out): 245
Free 120 (4 days out): 84%

Uworld (mostly random and timed): 73%
Click to expand...

Congrats on the score! That's still a great score! Thanks for sharing
 
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mgzavri said:
Got my score today: 241

Very happy with it considering my NBMEs!

NBME 18: 207 (5 weeks out)
NBME 16: 215 (3 weeks out)
NBME 17: 230 (1.5 weeks out)

UWorld average 70%

I relied heavily on Sketchy (Micro, Pharm, and Path <- was surprised by how helpful SketchyPath turned out to be) and FA during dedicated. I didn't use Pathoma at all during dedicated, but knew it well as I had used it to prepare for my school's 2nd year courses.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the score! How helpful did you find Sketchy Micro and Pharm to be on your exam?
 
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